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HEARSAY! All hearsay!

Contributed by: DR. SEAN REIF D.C. on 4/13/2008

A statement by a witness repeating the words of another person rather than testifying on the basis of direct knowledge. The hearsay rule is designed to ensure that testimony coming before the court is reliable.

The assistance of an attorney is invaluable in these kangaroo court cases. Lawyers are necessities not luxuries. A defendant should not be denied assistance of counsel. Any person charged with an offense cannot have a fair trial unless counsel is provided.

A critical stage is any step in the process at which the advice of counsel may be essential to protecting the rights of the accused, or at which the defendant's overall fate is affected. An accused person is entitled to challenge the evidence against him or her in an attempt to present the best factual defense possible. The right to confrontation is a fundamental right and is applied through the 14 th amendment.

The consequences of the Planning Commission's policies and the Northglenn City Council's judgments have had "chilling effects" of the exercising of legal rights in the City of Northglenn. This is when persons perceive the possibilities of sanctions or reprisals if they exercise their rights. Prior restraints on expression induce caution by speakers who wish to "steer clear" of the Planning Commission, and therefore development in Northglenn. A self imposed regulation of expression , I predict, does and will occur.

At pre-trial proceedings, at which the accused person is formally charged. During this arraignment, the accused should be given a copy of the indictment against him, and asked to respond to the charges. The defendant should be more formally informed of the constitutional rights for protection. An attorney may be appointed at this time.

These processes are designed to safeguard an accused against arbitrary or vindictive actions by the Government.

"Puffing" is a sales technique by which used car salesmen make exaggerated claims to induce customers to do business. A trial is not a commercial venture! And puffing should not be acceptable! Especially if it amounts to a misstatement of evidence of if an appeal is likely to lead a juror to substitute EMOTION for reason. Such arguments appeal strongly to a jury's emotions that a REAL judge is likely to deem them improper.

This arguments bottom line is this. The Planning Commission interpretations of the statements and accounts of the meetings are mistaken, their testimony was previously discussed and contrived and is unreliable. Their conflicting statements show their conspiracy and bias. We often unintentionally remember things the way we wish they were, not the way they actually occurred.

Dr. Reif had nothing to gain by testifying. Every shred of evidence tells that Dr. Reif is correct when he testified. But we all know the old saying, "You can't judge the book by its cover."

I asked you to use your common sense and think about what was said. Suppose that you saw someone walking into the Chamber wearing a wet raincoat. Your common sense would tell you its raining outside. No one needs to tell you its raining, your common sense allows you to draw an inference. And it is perfectly proper for you to draw such common sense inferences from the testimony you heard from this case.

But if someone, yells out "he's a racist and a sexist!" Testifying under oath doesn't make it true. If a judge were to instruct jurors to consider the witness's credibility, you may consider any inconsistent statement made by the witness.

Assume you were planning to attend the museum with the family, and wanted to know if it would be open on Friday. You call they museum, and the receptionist assures you that the museum will be OPEN. The next day, you call back, and the same receptionist tells you it will be CLOSED. That inconsistency would destroy your trust in the receptionist that you would not know whether to go to the museum.

If we as a people don't continue to hold a mirror up to the face of Northglenn and say "This is what you promised, and THIS is what you DELIVERED." If you don't speak OUT, if you don't STAND UP, if you don't do what is RIGHT, this kind of conduct will continue forever, and we will never have an ideal society, one that lives out the true meaning of the creed of the Constitution, or of life, liberty, and justice for all.


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Showing 1-3 of 3 comments
Submitted By: DR. SEAN REIF D.C.
posted on 4/15/2008 @ 2:39:20 PM
Rated Story
Machiavellianism is used to describe an amoral political style in which a political objective is achieved without regard to moral consequences. The conduct of the government is guided by a different morality to that of the citizens While morality based on Christian charitable, altruistic, and gentlemanly values, they are necessary and desirable for a functional society, the political sphere is not governed by these same values.
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Submitted By: DR. SEAN REIF D.C.
posted on 4/14/2008 @ 5:08:19 PM
Rated Story
The government cannot function as the guardian of public morality and use epithets and other offensive speech in public discourse. A state does not have the power to cleanse public debate to the point where it is grammatically acceptable to the most squeamish amongst us. Fighting words are so inherently insulting that they are likely to incite breach of the peace. Courts have said that a wide latitude must be afforded to exhibitions of offensive speech even though its expression is objectionable and distasteful to the listener because of noxious language.
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Submitted By: DR. SEAN REIF D.C.
posted on 4/13/2008 @ 4:24:15 PM
Rated Story
PRIVILEGE AGAINST SELF INCRIMINATION - Right not to be a witness against oneself - may refuse to give information or answer questions concerning certain information that may be relevant to the case. And is a defining feature of the adversarial system of justice. By contrast the inquisitorial system allows prosecution to interrogate the defendant and extract confessions, especially used with torture and intimidation.
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Showing 1-3 of 3 comments
CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

DR. SEAN REIF D.C.

THORNTON , CO

DR. SEAN REIF D.C. has posted 984 stories and 1132 comments since joining on 9/14/2005. DR. SEAN REIF D.C. 's average story rating is 3.08.
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